Your Own Candle Business
Most people start making candles as a hobby. If you consider that seven out of 10 households burn candles, that means that about 70 percent of the people you know are potential customers. By selling your candles you can tap into this huge market. It is possible to earn a decent part-time or even full-time income this way. This is especially true is you offer a comparable or better quality than what is currently in the marketplace.
The obvious approach here to your own candle business is to retail your candles. A common start into retailing is selling candles at craft shows. Others have their own websites set up with an online store. You could even only sell to friends and family on the holidays and for special events and limiting your home business to word of mouth trade and special orders.
Some candle makers sell their candles wholesale to other retailers. An important thing to keep in mind here is the wholesale pricing. Your wholesale price will typically be about 50% or less than your retail price. Make sure you are still making a profit by knowing exactly what your costs are for making each candle. Also make sure you have the production capability required to fulfill the order on schedule.
There are other ways to create a successful candle business and retailing and wholesale are only two ways possible. Another possibility is selling on consignment. You place your candles in an established business. They sell your candles in return for a percentage. If the store is selling a large number of candles, this can turn out a lucrative arrangement. Make sure to do your own homework: competitive products in the store, people traffic in the store, price of consignment space, etc.
Another option is joining a fundraising program. You find an organization (school, church, charitable organization, etc.) that raises money. They sell your candles for you for a portion of the profit. The percentage of the discount varies usually between 20-50% below the normal retail price. Candles can be an attractive alternative instead of the traditional candy and cookie dough sale.
Some people will see candles as a way to make a living, but of course you can perfectly choose to continue your candle making purely as a hobby. Either way there is always much delight and satisfaction in creating the perfect candle.
History of the Candle
Today candles are considered a pleasant luxury. Can you imagine that a little more than 100 years ago candles were an absolute necessity? After sunset, every activity has to done by candle light alone: reading, writing, knitting etc.
A candle is in essence a portable fire, and the candle history goes back to prehistoric times. Archeological findings date the candle as far back as 3,000 BC. Candle holders made of clay date back to the fourth century BC.
The theory goes that the ancient Egyptians may have been the first civilization to develop candles.
These first simple forms of wick-less candles were no more than a rock of stone shaped as a cup and containing animal fat. Straw-like plant material was used as sort of wick.
The simple form of these fat or oil lamps evolved into more sophistication. Up to the 19th century, 3 types of animal fat were used for candle: lamb fat (best quality, for rich people only), beef fat and pork fat (bad smell, thick smoke, for the poorest people). This fat was known as tallow.
Candle making as we know it, dates from about the 13th century. Professional candle makers provided their services and evolved into guilds with regulated trades and qualities.
Beeswax was then also know as raw material for candle. It was more difficult to work with than tallow and all beeswax candles had to be produced by hand. They were expensive and found chiefly in churches and monasteries.
In the 15th century, candle lanterns lit the street during the night. And a new invention advanced the craft of candle making: the mold.
The industrial revolution of the 18th and certainly the 19th century accelerated the development of candle making as any other area of life.
We’ll mention just a few: invention of the wick, invention of the molding machine to mass produce candles, and last but not least the discovery of paraffin and stearin in the 1850’s.
This made candles affordable for the masses, abundant and with good quality: even and longer burning, virtually smokeless and odorless: candle making as we know it today.
Candle Making Molds
When it comes to candle making molds, the variety you can buy on the market is huge. The choice of the mold depends only on your personal preferences and budget. Candle molds can be made out of different materials: metal, plastic, rubber, latex, etc. A candle mold is a container in which you pour the wax to cool it. When it is done, the wax will take the mold’s form.
First, we will start with the metal molds. They come in a large variety of designs: balls, squares, stars, and many more. All metal molds are very durable, they can last for a very long time and, in addition, they come equipped with a wick sealing screw for the bottom wick hole. One thing you should remember, though, is that with metal molds or any other type of molds, the bottom of the mold is always the top of the candle.
Aluminum molds are great, because they provide inexpensive ways to extend your line of candles. When using aluminum molds, some tips and techniques will help you during the process. You should take care of your molds, so do not use them for any other purpose because you might scratch the inside of the mold. Second, by heating or cooling the mold, you can achieve different aesthetic qualities. Cold molds can give a primitive appearance, while warm molds give good gloss.
Plastic molds can be found in many more shapes and sizes than the metal ones. This is a much more popular mold used by the most candle makers mostly because they are cheaper. The major disadvantage of plastic molds is that, in time, they can suffer scratches. These are good molds for beginners but if you were to take your candle making business to the next level, you are probably going to have to invest in different other types of molds. However, these molds still they create a smooth finish.
Polyurethane molds have a very high durability rate so they can last up to ten years, if taken care of. Another advantage is its facial accuracy. This material provides close to identical reproduction of the original product. Altough Polyurethane is a more expensive material, overtime the cost is canceled out by the durability and accuracy provided by these molds.
Rubber or latex molds have the ability to provide great detail. Further more, these types of molds are very flexible so that the rubber allows you to remove the candle from its mold. Latex molds are much cheaper because it makes much thinner molds so you can make many more. They do have flaws though. Rubber and latex molds have limited lifetime.
Another type of mold is the silicone candle mold. Silicone molds are very soft and flexible. This allows the candle maker to create the design he wants. Silicone molds are also hard to maintain. When not in use, the mold should be placed in a clean plastic bag. Do not stack them on top of each other and do not leave them into the sunlight. They will last much longer if you handle them with care.
The last mold is the glass one. Glass molds cool down very quickly. These types of molds offer a smooth finish and rarely stick. The problem with this kind of molds is that they are delicate and prone to scratching and cracking which will lead to breakage.
Considering all the available options, you only have to choose what kind of candle making molds is fit for you.
Candle Ingredients Part 2
In Candle ingredients Part I we described the absolutely basic 2 elements of a candle: wax and wick.
So let’s add now the next 2 elements: color and scent.
Soon after making your first set of candles, you will notice that white candles are pretty boring and why should you limit yourself to making white candles only?
Dyes for candle making come in a wide variety of forms: powders, flakes, chips and liquids. And almost by definition, you can find them in just about any color you want. Of course you can blend colors to generate even more beautiful shades only limited by your creativity and imagination.
Here are some tips about handling dyes.
You should handle all dyes very carefully as most things that come in contact with even minute amounts of dyes may become permanently stained (think clothing for example). Read all pertaining and available instructions and advices for both safety and staining.
Don’t use too much of the dye. It will not improve the appearance of your candles and it can actually negatively affect the burning quality of your candles.
Most dyes have a delicate and sensitive chemical composition. Be careful not to overheat the dye when mixing it with the hot wax, as it can cause discoloration. Sometimes the discoloration will only show up after some days.
in addition to the color, fragrances can have a special effect on you as well as others. Nothing smells sweeter than the scent of a candle. Once a candle has filled the room with that special fragrance, it changes the entire atmosphere of the room and of your own mood as well.
Candle fragrances come in several forms: perfume chips, natural herbs and liquids. There is and infinite assortment of fragrances you can choose from. Liquid scents are stronger and will last longer, but are somewhat more difficult to handle and dose properly.
Again as for the dye, don’t add too much scent. This is a classical newbie mistake. This may cause mottling or pitting to the wax. Also to keep evaporation to the minimum, add your scent the last minute when ready to pour the melted wax.
Candle Ingredients Part 1
There are really only 2 ingredients necessary to make a candle: wax and a wick!
At some point however, as you evolve in your craft of candle making, you may want to add color and scent.
For now let’s just go over these two basic candle ingredients.
Wax is the most essential ingredient in the entire candle making process. There are different types of waxes and you’ll probably start with the most common one: the paraffin wax.
Paraffin-bases waxes comes in a variety of blends. A huge benefit is that it produces an odorless smoke.
Paraffin wax melts between 104-160 °F (40-71 °C) depending on the quality. Stearin is a current additive to paraffin wax.
Beeswax is a natural wax and comes in blocks or sheets. The color varies from yellow to white. Beeswax possesses a honey fragrance. You can mix it with paraffin wax to produce candles with a longer burning time.
Beeswax comes with its own problems: it is more difficult to get beeswax candles out of the mold and it doesn’t mix well with fragrance additives.
Soy wax is a recent introduction into the world of candle making. It is made from hydrogenated soybean oil. Like beeswax, it is a natural product and it is less expensive than beeswax. Also it burns slower than paraffin, produces less soot and distributes the scent additives easier.
Gel wax is merely clear gel. It is fun to work with as it makes possible stunningly beautiful candles that can be individually tailored (for example as gifts for friends and family).
This is a more advanced (and potentially dangerous) material to work with however, as the melting behavior is not obvious and you need to put the gel wax directly over a heat source because of the high melting point.
The wick is the second essential element of a candle. Although a wick seems an innocent basic thing, you will soon experience that wick selection involves a lot of variables (wax type, candle size, fragrance additive, etc.) that it soon becomes an art in itself. As you become more proficient at choosing wicks, you’ll soon become a wick expert.
Cotton core wicks have a rigid inner core. This helps the wick standing straight while burning. Cotton core wicks are good for working with soy and paraffin wax candles.
Square braid wicks contains a core or rigid zinc, enabling the wick to stay straight up in the melted wax. Zinc core wicks are recommended for use in paraffin and gel wax candles.
When using wicks it is good practice to prime them (unless they come primed in the package). Priming is simply the process of coating the wick with one or two layers of molten wax before use.
A Short Introduction to Candle Making
Candle making is mostly know as a hobby, but has also a potential as a home based business. For starters it is a relatively inexpensive and not difficult hobby. The basics are simple indeed: a candle is a piece of wax wrapped around a wick that provides a slow and stable burning flame… that’s it! It remains a fun and highly rewarding hobby however and can evolve from a craft to an art form, with a practically endless creative potential.
Candle making covers a wide range of techniques. In this short introduction to candle making we can only briefly mention them. As candle making is an ancient craft, you have both traditional and modern techniques available. The earliest candles were made of animal fats or beeswax. The development of paraffin in our industrial age revolutionized candle making. It is easy now to make a smoke free and long burning candle for a very cheap price.
You can experiment with all kinds of techniques (moulding, dipping, etc.) and develop them further according to your own creativity to make unusual, unique or even stunning candles.
There is available a palette of different waxes, molds, colours and scents which will produce an endless array of unique and beautiful candles of different types (tea lights, pillar candles, etc.). You can start by making candles with pure beeswax or pure paraffin. You can then blend the two waxes and experiment further. Or you can use different specialty waxes to produce special effects or long burning times.
Candles are used to create a romantic ambiance or a peaceful and relaxing effect. Candles are an important part of home decoration.
And you can make a nice income of it, even if you sell your home made candles locally. It all starts as your friends or family stand inline for your custom-made candles and you end up considering to start a part-time business. Keep this in mind if you create unique versions of candles that people can’t find in stores.
Discover candle making as an easy and fun hobby that can evolve in a creative art or a craft with potential for a profitable home based business.
